exam 2 vocab (ch 5-9) Flashcards
majority of these are from the study guide (18)
hedonism
the belief that the good life consists of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain
operations of the mind
-sensation can be acted on and rearranged; innate
-thinking, perceiving, reasoning, processing, doubting, believing, knowing, willing
bell-magendie law
-the idea that there are two types of nerves
-inputs into the brain (senses/sensory)
-outputs from the brain (behavior/motor)
-early ideas concerning how the mind and body are connected
doctrine of specific nerve energies
-there are five different kind of nerves, each transmitting different energy
-each nerve responds in its own way no matter how it is stimulated
-ears: vibrations
-eyes: light
-touch: pressure, pain, temperature
principle of conservation of energy
-the energy within a system is constant; cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed
-energy in humans cannot be created or destroyed
unconscious inference
-the remnants of past experience are added to sensations, thereby converting them into perceptions
-how you get from sensory data to representations; past experience converts sensations to perceptions, interpreting pattern
trichromatic theory of vision
-human retinas have three color light receptors (red, green, blue); mixtures of these create the rainbow (visible light spectrum)
resonance place theory
-the tiny fibers on the basilar membrane of the inner eat are stimulated by different frequencies of sound; the shorter the fiber, the higher the frequency it responds to
-what the cochlea does
theory of signs
-the mind creates a simulation of reality based on inputs (sensory data, emotions) and can be subjective and messy, distorted (like knowing dr b has legs even if we cannot see them at that moment)
two-point threshold
-the smallest distance between two points of stimulation at which the two points are experienced as two points rather than one
-being able to feel two separate pricks because they are further apart compared to feeling them as one
just noticeable difference
-barely being able to detect difference by nerves (heaviness, hearing, etc)
absolute threshold
-the lowest intensity at which stimulus can be detected
difference threshold
-the smallest amount of change in sensation before we can detect it
negative sensations
-sensations that occur below the absolute threshold; below the level of awareness
-stimuli we are not aware of
introspection
-looking inwards; observing what is happening in our minds
-not very reliable or effective in studying the mind
